Galaxy Zoo Talk

irregular galaxies

  • Starfog by Starfog

    I often come across irregular galaxies wondering how they came to be so. Many appear to look like as if they were disrupted spiral galaxies that have rich star formation like AGZ0003p14; indicating a younger age than their elliptical counterparts. Could these galaxies have already been disrupted by others in such a relatively short time in the galaxy's existance? Feedback appreciated, thanks all.

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  • KWillett by KWillett scientist, admin, translator

    Many galaxies with irregular morphologies are indeed disrupted spirals, in the process of merging with another galaxy. The age of a galaxy doesn't always directly follow from the morphology, though - spirals can be very old and still have blue colors with young stars (mixed with the older ones), as long as there's still gas in the galaxy that provides fuel to be formed into new stars. Similarly, a red elliptical galaxy is usually a few billion years old, since that's how long it takes for stars to go through their evolution on the main sequence and become red, but it can have a range of ages beyond that.

    Most irregular galaxies that we see are less massive than the giant ellipticals and grand design spirals, meaning that they're more susceptible to gravitational perturbations and tend to be found orbiting their larger companions. Their small size and luminosity is one of the main reasons that seeing them in the Galaxy Zoo images is rare.

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  • williamaskew by williamaskew

    heres my irregular collection. there are a few that were mistakenly added, i just havent taken time to remove them. hope you enjoy
    http://talk.galaxyzoo.org/?_ga=1.254966792.189379650.1438018854#/collections/CGZS00006f

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  • sat666leg by sat666leg

    i find if you watch the documentories , universe, how the universe works, etc. you can get a better understanding of what you know. but of course the images are stunning.

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  • Starfog by Starfog

    Thanks all. The irregulars are all so interesting to me, seeming to tell a story about how they came to be. Now I understand that story a little better. Thanks KWillett .

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